Africa joins the rest of the world to mourn the sudden death of the King of Pop – Michael Jackson. Reports reaching AfricaNews editorial desk indicate that Jackson’s death was the major news item featured on most radio and television stations across Africa and on the front pages of top newspapers. The major headline of Nigeria’s politically dominated newspaper, This Day, said: “Africa: Grief Across the World As Michael Jackson Dies”, while Ghana’s politically oriented private newspaper – the Daily Guide – cast their headline thus: “Michael Jackson is Dead.” Continue reading ‘Africa mourns Michael Jackson’

Social networking websites are fast becoming the backbones of the new media. Twitter has over the years proven to be a “good” source of news from locals and not only feeds from mainstream media houses. The skirmishes surrounding the just held elections in Iran has whipped up a lot of interest in the use of Twitter if not doubled it users. Most of the news updates I am getting from Tehran in Iran are from twitter followers – some directly on the ground and others monitoring from other media sources. Continue reading ‘Twitter aids in spreading falsehood’

A 23-year-old journalism student in the USA has staged a media revolution that is breaking the dominance of traditional media and known major news websites as news sources. Craig Kanalley, a graduate student of DePaul University in Chicago, is using twitter – a social network platform – to break major news all over the world with the speed of a bullet.Continue reading ‘Breaking tweets breaking traditional media’

Hardly a day passes without coming across these phrases – Economic Crunch, (Global) Financial Crisis and Economic Recession. Simply put, the world is going through difficult times than it used to be a decade back. The most hit are the automobile and financial institutions. However, the institution – media – that reports on the issue is itself being hit more than expected. Newspapers worldwide are winding up at a time when bad news must sell.